Among the items of business transacted at the June 29 meeting of the Montgomery County Commission:

• The commission voted 2-1 to deny the reinstatement of Wilbur Schwatken as the Montgomery County Rural Fire District #1 coordinator.  Schwatken had filed a grievance against the county commission, which heard that complaint in a public hearing last Wednesday.  Commissioners Tony Fowler and Fred Brown voted in favor of denying the reinstatement while commissioner Larry McManus voted against the measure.

• Commissioners agreed to proceed with plans to relocate the commission chambers in the basement of the Montgomery County Judicial Center beginning on July 13.  The commission will use the basement room (south portion) while walls are erected on the northern portion of the basement for the commission chambers and conference room.  The cost to erect the walls and establish telephone/internet access to the new commission room will be about $15,000.

• Commissioners also agreed to pursue the hiring of a commission secretary to assist the commission with routine clerical work, such as answering the telephone, handling correspondence, preparing meeting agenda, etc.   The position will not be new to the county commission but will involve the merger of various other secretarial duties within the courthouse.

• Commissioners heard a request from representatives of the county’s four primary towns to increase the countywide ambulance subsidy from 1.4 mills to 3.0 mills in 2010.  The commission indicated it would take the proposal under advisement.

• Commissioners also rescinded a 2005 policy that prohibits high-tonage vehicles (27 tons or more) from traveling on county roads.  The decision came at the recommendation of Robert Bever, public works director, who said the 2005 policy was largely not being enforced and was intended to target gasoline trucks leaving the Coffeyville Resources refinery.  Another issue involved the changing of weight limit signs throughout the county, which, Bever, said, would cost as much as $13,000 next year.  The changes in signage was mandated under a federal law requiring stronger reflectivity of road signs.

More details from Monday’s commission meeting will be printed in the July 2 edition of the Montgomery County Chronicle.